This invention relates to storage of digital data, and more particularly to a data storage system that provides access to a remote storage area.
The Internet is a worldwide collection of networks that spans over 100 countries and connects millions of computers. Reports indicate that the Internet is growing faster than all preceding information technologies including radio and television. Remote data storage over the Internet is one of the fastest growing facets of the Internet. Numerous companies provide a wide range of an Internet data storage services for remotely storing and managing data files. Many of these services, however, have limited modes for accessing the data files. For example, many require that a user load proprietary software on his computer in order to communicate data files to the remote storage. Other services only support access via a web browser or similar communication utility.
The present invention is directed to a data storage system and method capable of providing a variety of access methods. In one embodiment, a data storage system includes a plurality of storage servers coupled to a plurality of storage devices. The storage devices provide a plurality of virtual storage areas and each virtual storage area is assigned to a user. According to the invention, the assigned user can easily access the assigned virtual storage area using a client computer communicatively coupled to the storage servers via a global computer network such as the Internet. More specifically, in order to store data files within the remote virtual storage area, the user sends an electronic mail message that includes the data file as well as user information and target data file information. The storage server parses the electronic mail message and stores the data file within the storage area according to the target data file information. In addition, the user can request one or more data files from the storage area and electronically mail the data files to the user. In this manner, authorized users can easily store date files to or retrieve data files from his or her remote storage area from anywhere in the world via a global computer network such as the Internet or a private wide-area network. The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.